IMPACT

The Tommy Strong Foundation is dedicated to providing hope to childhood cancer families by funding support programs and research focused on improving treatment and outcomes for children with cancer. Below are some examples of how your support is helping us make a difference in the fight against childhood cancer.

If you would like to learn how to get more involved please click here.

Project Accelerate

Tommy Strong granted funds to support “Project Accelerate,” a groundbreaking program within the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN). Project Accelerate aims to gather data from and molecularly characterize every child enrolled in CBTN by Fall 2022 - more than 4200 children. This will empower translational research by significantly increasing the size and scale of information available to researchers, scientists, and healthcare providers worldwide without embargo. Project Accelerate will advance precision medicine for children with brain tumors, ensuring that doctors and clinicians can deliver the right diagnosis and determine the best treatment and clinical trial options for each individual child.

PNOC027 Trial

Tommy Strong made a clinical trial research grant fund to support PNOC027, a precision medicine driven trial led by the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (“PNOC”). The PNOC027 trial uses real-time drug screening and genomic testing to develop customized treatment plans for children and young adults with relapsed medulloblastoma. By testing each patient's tumor against hundreds of drugs, many of which are FDA-approved, the trial aims to identify the most effective and least toxic treatment strategies, setting a new standard in targeted cancer care. PNOC027 is now expanding to include ependymoma, a complex pediatric brain cancer lacking effective treatments beyond surgery and radiation. Ependymoma's mutations and the availability of tissue from surgical resections make it an ideal candidate for this trial. Using 'off the shelf' drugs, already approved for other uses, enhances the efficiency of the treatment process, aiming to provide novel, targeted therapies for young patients with limited options.

Vitanza Lab

Tommy Strong made a research grant to the Vitanza Lab, an independent lab directed by Dr. Nicholas Vitanza at Seattle Children’s Research Institute’s Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research. The grant will support a planned pilot program related to the lab’s groundbreaking immunotherapy CAR T cell trials for pediatric brain and central nervous system tumors that will study how radiation treatment affects the expression of different targets on the tumor’s surface. The findings will hopefully allow scientists to determine which children will benefit from CAR T cell therapy and whether those therapies are more effective given before or after radiation therapy.

Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium Trial

Tommy Strong awarded a grant to the Pacific Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Consortium (“PNOC”) to help initiate and support an innovative multi-armed clinical trial approach targeted to ependymoma tumors. Although ependymoma is the third most common pediatric brain tumor, there are very few options for therapy and treatment and there is not yet effective treatment beyond surgery and radiation. PNOC’s Ependymoma Working Group, led by Drs. Mariella Filbin, Derek Hanson, Eugene Hwang and Stephen Mack, brings together scientists and clinicians from institutions around the globe to translate biological findings into more accessible trials for this high-unmet-need disease.

Neuropsychologist at the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack

Tommy Strong Foundation granted funds to Hackensack Meridian Children’s Cancer Institute to help fund a new part-time neuropsychologist. A neuropsychologist studies relationships between the brain and behavior, and conducts evaluations to characterize behavioral and cognitive changes resulting from central nervous system disease or injury. Many childhood cancer treatments have documented neurological effects, and these evaluations are important to identify a baseline of function before the commencement of treatment and to track a child’s cognitive changes through and after treatment. Furthermore, these tests provide vital information to support a child’s ongoing medical care.

Ependymoma Working Group

Tommy Strong Foundation made a research grant to the Ependymoma Working Group through the Children’s Brain Tumor Network (CBTN) and Pacific Pediatric Neuro-oncology Consortium (PNOC). Leading medical research institutions from around the world, including Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s National Medical Center, Hackensack Meridian Health, Texas Children’s Hospital, SickKids Toronto, Seattle Children’s Hospital, German Cancer Research Center, Medical University of Vienna, St. Jude and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, are collaborating to advance pre-clinical studies and develop clinical trials for ependymoma, the third most common form of brain cancer in children and the most common form of pediatric spinal cord tumor.

Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Lab

The Tommy Strong Foundation awarded a grant to help establish the new Pediatric Neuro-Oncology Lab at Hackensack Meridian Health Center for Discovery and Innovation. The lab is led by pediatric neuro-oncologist Dr. Derek Hanson. The lab will focus its efforts on pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumors, particularly studying translational models of aggressive tumors in an effort to bring the findings to patients for access to early-stage trials of the newest and most-innovative brain tumor therapies.

Christopher’s Haven

Tommy Strong Foundation made a housing grant to Christopher’s Haven. Christopher’s Haven is located in Boston, MA with a mission to operate a supportive community consisting of temporary apartments and a community recreation area for families of children being treated for cancer in nearby hospitals. The grant will cover housing expenses for one apartment for an entire year, allowing 6 - 8 families in need to stay at Christopher’s Haven rent free.

Tommy’s Place

Tommy Strong sponsors five weeks per year at Tommy's Place, a dream vacation home for children fighting cancer, located in Cape Cod, MA. Our sponsorship will allow five families to each have a private, week-long stay at this magical place, free of charge. Tommy's Place offers the invaluable gifts of quality time, fun, relaxation and memory-making for families dealing with the stress and challenges of childhood cancer treatment.

Sibling Support Program at the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack

Tommy Strong Foundation awarded a grant to the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation to support the development of a Sibling Support Program. The Sibling Support Program, managed through the Child Life Department at the Joseph M. Sanzari Children’s Hospital, will encompass one-on-one therapy; group therapy, including bereavement groups; and organized recreational outings for the siblings of the Hospital’s pediatric oncology patients. A dedicated Child Life Specialist will work with the siblings, providing them with emotional support and therapeutic programming.

Dance and Movement Therapy at the Children’s Cancer Institute at Hackensack

Tommy Strong provided a grant to ensure that the Children’s Cancer Institute can continue the Dance and Movement Therapy (“DMT”) program full-time and have resources for supplies and other related needs. DMT is a body- and movement-based psychotherapeutic field that utilizes the expressive elements of dance to enable the patient to convey their feelings and emotions through movement and dance when they may be unable to verbalize their thoughts. By creating activities that consider the pediatric patient’s emotional, social, cognitive, communicative, and motor development, pediatric DMT provides a therapeutic holding environment to enable a child to feel in control of their body.

Furthermore, the program provides age-appropriate socialization for pediatric patients. Often, children and adolescents undergoing cancer treatment feel separate from their peers due to activity restrictions, physical changes, and other limitations associated with their treatment.